editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Kat Chow is a founding member of NPR's Code Switch , an award-winning team that covers the complicated stories of race, ethnicity, and culture. She helps make new episodes for the Code Switch podcast, reports online features for Code Switch , and reports on-air pieces for NPR's shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered . Her work has led readers and listeners on explorations of the gendered and racialized double standards surrounding double-eyelid surgery , as well as the mysterious origins of a so-called "Oriental" riff – a word she's also written a personal essay about. Much of her role revolves around finding new ways to build communities and tell stories, like @ todayin1963 or # xculturelove . During her tenure at NPR, Chow has also worked with NPR's show Invisibilia to develop a new digital strategy; reported for KERA in Dallas, Texas, as NPR's 2015 radio reporting fellow; and served on the selection committee for AIR Media's incubator project, Localore . Every now andNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Kat ChowWed, 21 Feb 2018 22:03:36 +0000Kat Chowhttp://wkar.org
There's no question that 1968 was a pivotal year in civil rights history. In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of a hotel in Memphis; the Fair Housing Act was passed; two U.S. athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, took a stand and raised their fists in a monumental salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics; and Star Trek aired the first intergalactic and interracial on-screen kiss. All this, while the U.S. was embroiled in the Vietnam War. Now, 50 years later, a team of NPR research librarians, social media producers and reporters are capturing those moments and more with our Twitter project, @todayin1968 . Through that account, we'll tweet news and articles from 1968 as if it were all happening today. In addition to major events, we'll share "everyday" parts of life — like the change in price for stamps or Billboard hits. This is a revival of NPR's project from five years ago, @todayin1963 . Follow along on Twitter as we rediscover 1968. Let us know'Today In 1968' Replays A Historic Year — On Twitterhttp://wkar.org/post/today-1968-replays-historic-year-twitter
115001 as http://wkar.orgWed, 21 Feb 2018 11:00:00 +0000'Today In 1968' Replays A Historic Year — On TwitterKat ChowIn One Of Chinatown's Oldest Landmarks, A New Generation Readies For Lunar New Yearhttp://wkar.org/post/one-chinatowns-oldest-landmarks-new-generation-readies-lunar-new-year
114716 as http://wkar.orgThu, 15 Feb 2018 15:58:00 +0000In One Of Chinatown's Oldest Landmarks, A New Generation Readies For Lunar New YearKat ChowIf you're Native American, there's a good chance that you've thought a lot about blood quantum — a highly controversial measurement of the amount of "Indian blood" you have. It can affect your identity, your relationships and whether or not you — or your children — may become a citizen of your tribe. Blood quantum was initially a system that the federal government placed onto tribes in an effort to limit their citizenship. Many Native nations, including the Navajo Nation and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, still use it as part of their citizenship requirements. And how tribes use blood quantum varies from tribe to tribe. The Navajo Nation requires a minimum of 25 percent "Navajo blood," and Turtle Mountain requires a minimum of 25 percent of any Indian blood, as long as its in combination with some Turtle Mountain. Blood quantum minimums really restrict who can be a citizen of a tribe. If you've got 25 percent of Navajo blood — according to that tribe's blood quantumSo What Exactly Is 'Blood Quantum'?http://wkar.org/post/so-what-exactly-blood-quantum
114398 as http://wkar.orgFri, 09 Feb 2018 11:00:00 +0000So What Exactly Is 'Blood Quantum'?Kat ChowIn two weeks, 39-year-old Rottanak Kong will board a plane to Cambodia. He'll be accompanied by dozens of other Cambodians with deportation orders. Kong — along with many in his situation — has not returned to Cambodia since his family left as a refugees. They fled the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which killed more than two million people. He was detained by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement in mid-October. More than a decade ago, he was arrested for joyriding and sentenced to a year in prison, according to his lawyer. Because of that arrest, he is being deported. "There's a flaw in our system," said Chen Kong-Wick, his sister. "How can you deport someone that came here as a political asylum — as a refugee — and now they're being sent to a country that they know nothing of?" More than 70 Cambodians who have been detained by ICE will be sent to Cambodia soon, according to immigration advocates. Earlier this fall, ICE detained more than a hundred Cambodians while the agency tried toFor Some Cambodian Refugees, Deportations And A Return To A Country They Fledhttp://wkar.org/post/some-cambodian-refugees-deportations-and-return-country-they-fled
111337 as http://wkar.orgTue, 05 Dec 2017 23:00:00 +0000For Some Cambodian Refugees, Deportations And A Return To A Country They FledKat ChowWhen I was 16, I was sitting with my best friend in a park by the Connecticut River on a tumble of rocks. We hadn't seen anyone in the hour we'd been there. We were midconversation when my friend whispered, "There's a naked man over there." Sure enough, there was. A man, maybe in his 40s or 50s, had stripped nude and was approaching us, waving his erect penis. Until that moment, I'd never understood how it felt to be trapped. We were on a precarious set of jagged rocks — the type that could easily break ankles — and full of panic. Every person who has been sexually assaulted or harassed knows this sensation. I shouted at the man while my friend and I scrambled up the rocks and raced through the woods that separated us from the parking lot. We called the cops, who took our statements and gave us Band-Aids. Afterward, we told nobody else. We didn't want to weather the skepticism or face the fact that we'd skirted something more sinister. We barely talked about it to one another. Soon, IGaslighting: How A Flicker Of Self-Doubt Warps Our Response To Sexual Harassmenthttp://wkar.org/post/gaslighting-how-flicker-self-doubt-warps-our-response-sexual-harassment
110830 as http://wkar.orgSat, 25 Nov 2017 12:00:00 +0000Gaslighting: How A Flicker Of Self-Doubt Warps Our Response To Sexual HarassmentKat ChowIt's my first interactive theater experience. I'm standing in a dark, large room with a stage in the middle. Other audience members are huddled around. We're not really sure what we've gotten ourselves into. Here's the premise: We've been asked to be part of a focus group run by a K-pop label. Its leaders have invited us to tour a Korean pop "factory," where the stars hone their dancing and singing in Korean and English. We, the audience, are supposed to help figure out just why Korean megastars haven't been able to break into the American market. It's a real question, and it's the driving force of KPOP , a new, interactive musical in New York City with a nearly all-Asian cast. "These are questions that I've been wrestling with my whole life," says 32-year-old Jason Kim , KPOP's writer who also worked for HBO's Girls . In 2014, while Kim was finishing up his MFA in playwriting at the New School For Drama, he partnered up with director Teddy Bergman and came up with the idea for KPOP .A New Musical — And Its Audience — Grapple With Asian Identity, Through K-Pophttp://wkar.org/post/new-musical-and-its-audience-grapple-asian-identity-through-k-pop
108476 as http://wkar.orgThu, 05 Oct 2017 10:00:00 +0000A New Musical — And Its Audience — Grapple With Asian Identity, Through K-PopKat ChowCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Now to Florida. It's been nearly a week since Hurricane Irma made landfall there. Hundreds of thousands in South Florida are still without power. Kat Chow of NPR's Code Switch team reports that for some Floridians who have family in Cuba, the recovery after Irma is twice as taxing. KAT CHOW, BYLINE: At a laundromat on Palm Avenue in Hialeah, Fla., the washing machines are whirring at full force. People are heaving dirty clothes into machines. One of those people is Yasmin Gonz. YASMIN GONZ: I live in Hialeah, west Hialeah. CHOW: Gonz is 47. And as someone with cousins, aunts and uncles back in Cuba, Gonz's worries about Hurricane Irma were twofold. The storm hit Cuba a day ahead of the U.S. And before Irma reached Hialeah, Gonz called her relatives in Havana to check in on them. GONZ: They told me that this is a lot damage in Cuba - no power, no food, no water, a lot illness. CHOW: She worried about them. And as IrmaFor Floridians With Family In Cuba, Recovery From Irma Is Twice As Taxinghttp://wkar.org/post/floridians-family-cuba-recovery-irma-twice-taxing
107656 as http://wkar.orgSat, 16 Sep 2017 22:08:00 +0000For Floridians With Family In Cuba, Recovery From Irma Is Twice As TaxingKat ChowThe front page of The Daily Progress , Charlottesville's local paper, on June 28, 1921, offers a mix of local minutiae folded in with larger news. "VALUABLE DOG DEAD," shouts one headline. "WON'T ACCEPT WAGE CUT," says another. And then, right up near the top, bordered with teeny asterisks, is this headline: "KU KLUX KLAN ORGANIZED HERE." What follows is this reverential, two-paragraph recounting of the local Klan's birth: "The spirit of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest hovered over Charlottesville recently, and the fiery cross, symbolic of the Invisible Empire and of the unconquered and unconquerable blood of America, cast an eerie sheen upon a legion of white robed Virginians as they stood upon hallowed ground and renewed the faith of their fathers. "Which is by way of saying that the Ku Klux Klan has been organized in this city. Hundreds of Charlottesville's leading business and professional men met around the tomb of Jefferson at the midnight hour one night last week and sealed theTracing The Dark Origins Of Charlottesville's KKK http://wkar.org/post/tracing-dark-origins-charlottesvilles-kkk
106431 as http://wkar.orgSat, 19 Aug 2017 10:00:00 +0000Tracing The Dark Origins Of Charlottesville's KKK Kat ChowA rally with white nationalists chanting phrases like " Jews will not replace us " and " end immigration, one people, one nation " was, as many expressed online, disturbing yet not really all that surprising. Within hours of the tragedy in Charlottesville, journalists, scholars and other leading voices weighed in around the Internet, with analysis and deeper understanding of how this unfolded. Below are some of the most revealing pieces we read. Here at Code Switch, my teammate Gene Demby wrote about about how white nationalists are edging their movement out of the shadows: "Richard Spencer, the white nationalist leader and University of Virginia alum who coined the term 'alt-right,' would likely count that openness as its own incremental success. 'If you greeted someone in 1985 and you said, 'all gays should marry,' you actually would get a lot of laughs,' Spencer told The Atlantic last year, not long after the election. 'By 2015, gay marriage is popular. What is possible has shifted.Making Sense Of Charlottesville: A Reader's Guidehttp://wkar.org/post/making-sense-charlottesville-readers-guide
106189 as http://wkar.orgMon, 14 Aug 2017 19:44:00 +0000Making Sense Of Charlottesville: A Reader's GuideKat ChowIn 1872, 13-year-old Hong Yen Chang came to the U.S. to be groomed as a diplomat. He earned degrees from Yale University and Columbia University's law school, and passed the bar exam. He became the first Chinese-American lawyer in the U.S. in 1888, when he was admitted to the New York bar. But not all states were as welcoming. When Chang applied for a California law license in 1892, the state's Supreme Court denied his application citing bar association rules, which precluded noncitizens from joining. Chang was unable to become a citizen because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. More than a century later, Chang's descendants petitioned for their relative to be granted posthumous bar admission and brought the case before the California Supreme Court. In 2015, the California Supreme Court reversed the ruling. "Even if we cannot undo history, we can acknowledge it and, in doing so, accord a full measure of recognition to Chang's path-breaking efforts to become the first lawyer ofWhat's Keeping Asian-American Lawyers From Ascending The Legal Ranks?http://wkar.org/post/whats-keeping-asian-american-lawyers-ascending-legal-ranks
105542 as http://wkar.orgMon, 31 Jul 2017 22:00:00 +0000What's Keeping Asian-American Lawyers From Ascending The Legal Ranks?Kat ChowWhen Bao Phi's family fled Vietnam in 1975 and settled in Minneapolis with other refugees, he was just a few months old. He was too young to understand the scene at the airport that day: Communist soldiers were firing rockets at planes filled with people trying to escape, incinerating them in the sky. Phi's parent's told him about their family history bit by bit, and he began to form a stronger sense of his own identity. "You know, just as a man of color, as an Asian-American, like anything could happen to me. I could get hit by a car. I could get hit by lightning," he says. "You know, some racist cop could kill me, or some racist on the street could just decide he doesn't like the way I look and if that happens, what is my daughter going to have to know where I come from and where half of her comes from?" His new book, Thousand Star Hotel , is a cutting collection of poems about growing up a refugee, becoming a father, feeling surrounded by police brutality and the invisibility ofThe Poet Bao Phi, On Creating A 'Guidebook' For Young Asian-Americans http://wkar.org/post/poet-bao-phi-creating-guidebook-young-asian-americans
105007 as http://wkar.orgThu, 20 Jul 2017 11:00:00 +0000The Poet Bao Phi, On Creating A 'Guidebook' For Young Asian-Americans Kat ChowJack Shaheen, a researcher and writer who spent his life battling stereotypes of Arab-Americans and Muslims in pop culture, died Sunday in South Carolina. He was 81. One of Shaheen's notable victories came in 1993, when he helped persuade Disney to change some original song lyrics in the movie Aladdin , on the grounds that they were insensitive. Shaheen also worked to diversify the very industry he studied. He and his family created scholarships for Arab-American college students to study media, through organizations including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Center for Arab American Philathrophy . "I want to see the Arab humanity in films that really reflect, that show Arabs pretty much like ordinary people," he told NPR's Michel Martin in 2007 . His book, Reel Bad Arabs , told the history of Arab-Americans and Muslims stereotyped as screen villains. His work underscored the long-lasting nature of those tropes, and he spoke of that research frequently, includingA Powerful Voice Against Arab Stereotyping, Jack Shaheen, Dieshttp://wkar.org/post/powerful-voice-against-arab-stereotyping-jack-shaheen-dies
104534 as http://wkar.orgMon, 10 Jul 2017 22:32:00 +0000A Powerful Voice Against Arab Stereotyping, Jack Shaheen, DiesKat ChowAs soon as Philando Castile's mother Valerie heard last week that a Minnesota jury had acquitted Jeronimo Yanez, she stood up and declared "f*** this!" and left the courtroom. That's according to Minnesota Public Radio reporter Riham Feshir, who was there, and talked to Code Switch about it for this week's episode . That trial ended Friday after five days of deliberations with a not guilty verdict for Yanez, the officer who fatally shot Castile as he sat in a car on July 6 of last year. As NPR's David Schaper reported , "It really came down to whether the jury believed Yanez when he testified that he was scared for his life and thought Castile was grabbing for his gun as he sat in that car." As millions of people witnessed on Facebook, Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, captured the moments after the shooting in a live video stream as Castile sat slumped and bleeding in the front seat. Reynolds' four-year-old daughter was in the back. "The system continues to fail black people,What To Make Of Philando Castile's Death, One Year Laterhttp://wkar.org/post/what-make-philando-castiles-death-one-year-later
103550 as http://wkar.orgWed, 21 Jun 2017 04:01:00 +0000What To Make Of Philando Castile's Death, One Year LaterKat ChowIn most American cities these days, it seems like there's a Chinese restaurant on every other street corner. But in the late 1800s, that ubiquity was exactly what certain white establishment figures feared, according to a new study co-written by Gabriel "Jack" Chin, a law professor at the University of California, Davis. Chin examined how white union workers and lawmakers waged a nationwide "war" on Chinese restaurants in America from 1890 to 1920. "It shows this tradition of an expectation on the part of some white Americans that public policy should be organized for the benefit of their employment," says Chin, who adds that he sees parallels with anti-immigrant policies being put forth today. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act , which barred Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. for decades. Some white Americans worried that Chinese laborers would steal their jobs and hijack their opportunity. And this xenophobic fear carried over to the restaurant industry.How The White Establishment Waged A 'War' On Chinese Restaurants In The U.S. http://wkar.org/post/how-white-establishment-waged-war-chinese-restaurants-us
103332 as http://wkar.orgFri, 16 Jun 2017 10:04:00 +0000How The White Establishment Waged A 'War' On Chinese Restaurants In The U.S. Kat ChowA Chinese man stands on a pedestal surrounded by a harbor as a cartoon imitation of the Statue of Liberty. His clothes are tattered, his hair is in a long, thin tail, his eyes squint. The words "diseases," "filth," "immorality," and "ruin to white labor" float around his head. This man is the center of an iconic image from 1881 called " A Statue for Our Harbor ," made by the cartoonist George Frederick Keller. The image reflects the widespread anti-Chinese and anti-immigrant sentiment of the time, and was used to drum up support for the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act , which turns 135 on Saturday. The law limited Chinese immigration and barred them from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens. Experts point to the parallels between the political climate of the exclusion era and today: a close and contentious presidential election that stirred anti-immigrant sentiment; the growing economic anxiety of white Americans; and policies that would drastically shape the country's immigrationAs Chinese Exclusion Act Turns 135, Experts Point To Parallels Todayhttp://wkar.org/post/how-chinese-exclusion-act-paved-way-proposed-travel-ban
101328 as http://wkar.orgFri, 05 May 2017 22:21:00 +0000As Chinese Exclusion Act Turns 135, Experts Point To Parallels TodayKat ChowA piece from New York Magazine's Andrew Sullivan over the weekend ended with an old, well-worn trope: Asian-Americans, with their "solid two-parent family structures," are a shining example of how to overcome discrimination. An essay that began by imagining why Democrats feel sorry for Hillary Clinton — and then detoured to President Trump's policies — drifted to this troubling ending: "Today, Asian-Americans are among the most prosperous, well-educated, and successful ethnic groups in America. What gives? It couldn't possibly be that they maintained solid two-parent family structures, had social networks that looked after one another, placed enormous emphasis on education and hard work, and thereby turned false, negative stereotypes into true, positive ones, could it? It couldn't be that all whites are not racists or that the American dream still lives?" Sullivan's piece, rife with generalizations about a group as vastly diverse as Asian-Americans, rightfully raised hackles. Not only'Model Minority' Myth Again Used As A Racial Wedge Between Asians And Blackshttp://wkar.org/post/model-minority-myth-again-used-racial-wedge-between-asians-and-blacks
100522 as http://wkar.orgWed, 19 Apr 2017 12:32:00 +0000'Model Minority' Myth Again Used As A Racial Wedge Between Asians And BlacksKat ChowCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Meet the star of one of the biggest movies opening this weekend, a cyborg based off a Japanese manga series called "Ghost In The Shell." (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GHOST IN THE SHELL") SCARLETT JOHANSSON: (As Major) Everyone around me, they feel connected to something - connected to something I'm not. SIMON: But this cyborg is played by Scarlett Johansson, the latest in a string of A-list white actresses who play Asian characters. Kat Chow of NPR's Code Switch team wondered if that presented a challenge in marketing the movie. KAT CHOW, BYLINE: It's not just Scarlett Johansson. It's also Emma Stone and Tilda Swinton who have recently been cast in parts originally written as Asian. LeiLani Nishime is a professor at the University of Washington. LEILANI NISHIME: It's not like this happened once, and so everyone's freaking out. I mean, this has been a long-standing problem. When they're selling the movie, they're not thinking about AsianThe Complications Of Casting White Actors As Asian Charactershttp://wkar.org/post/complications-casting-white-actors-asian-characters
99747 as http://wkar.orgSat, 01 Apr 2017 12:04:00 +0000The Complications Of Casting White Actors As Asian CharactersKat ChowWe know that in times of heightened stress, human instincts tell us to fight or flee. For some American Muslims, the current political climate has created a need for more Muslims to stand up and fight by seeking political office. "Muslims didn't ask to be dragged into the spotlight, but now that we're there and we need to push back," said Robert McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "Getting into elected offices is one of the best means." McCaw pointed out that there are only two Muslims serving in Congress: Keith Ellison of Minnesota, who over the weekend was appointed deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, and André Carson of Indiana. Local races, including ones in New Jersey and Austin , have seen an increase in mostly Democratic Muslim candidates running for office. And Sayu Bhojwani, the executive director of the New American Leaders Project (NALP), which helps politically-involved immigrants run for office, said herIn Response To Rising Biased Rhetoric, Muslims Run For Officehttp://wkar.org/post/response-rising-biased-rhetoric-muslims-run-office
98441 as http://wkar.orgMon, 27 Feb 2017 11:01:00 +0000In Response To Rising Biased Rhetoric, Muslims Run For OfficeKat ChowThe day Donald Trump took office, six members of the presidential advisory commission for Asian American Pacific Islanders stepped down. Last week, another 10 resigned. They wrote in a scathing letter that Trump's immigration executive orders, slash of federal funds to sanctuary cities, bans on refugees and opposition to the Affordable Care Act, had "deleterious consequences" for Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. "We object to your portrayal of immigrants, refugees, people of color and people of various faiths as untrustworthy, threatening and a drain on our nation," the letter stated. Only four commissioners remain on the panel. While political resignations are common at the start of presidential transitions, this was a remarkably public, mass exodus from an advisory group created by President Bill Clinton in 1999 and renewed by each president through an executive order ever since. These resignations are a reminder that appointees to race-specific commissions are inevitablyAre Race-Based Advisory Groups Just Political Symbols?http://wkar.org/post/are-race-based-advisory-groups-just-political-symbols
98248 as http://wkar.orgWed, 22 Feb 2017 17:00:00 +0000Are Race-Based Advisory Groups Just Political Symbols?Kat ChowA lot happened on the race beat the past few days; so much so that it prompted Code Switch's Shereen Marisol Meraji to channel Kendrick Lamar in this week's podcast : Maybe we all need to dive into Lamar's giant pool of liquor. Pour. Drink. Pass out. Dominating the news were President Donald Trump's executive orders. One calls for the construction of a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Another promises to cut federal funding for so-called sanctuary cities if they refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials. A third clears the way for construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which Native Americans have fought passionately to prevent. POTUS is also issued executive orders that halt the Syrian refugee program and suspend immigration from predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq and Iran. Here are some non-executive-orders links that passed over our transom. Voter dilution or voter fraud? CityLab's Brentin Mock digs into voter dilution , which he argues is theThis Week In Race: Executive Orders, Voter Dilution, Roxane Gay And ... Cornbread http://wkar.org/post/week-race-executive-orders-voter-dilution-roxane-gay-and-cornbread
97105 as http://wkar.orgFri, 27 Jan 2017 17:01:00 +0000This Week In Race: Executive Orders, Voter Dilution, Roxane Gay And ... Cornbread